Rising Long-Term Interest Rates: What Do They Mean?

Long-term interest rates rose noticeably in the last two months of 2013, with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note moving back above 3 percent during the year’s final trading sessions. What explains this run-up in rates? And what do higher long rates mean for the American economy, going forward? These are key questions facing economists and policymakers in the earliest days of the New Year.